Community Life
Week of October 5th, 2025
Let's get together just for fun at this year's Barn Dance! Bring a chili and your best barn dance moves!
The Barn Dance is Here!
We got pony rides, a petting zoo, chili cook-off, pumpkins, everyone's favorite in house cover band "Sound Check" for the live music and dancing. Invite a friend!
We still NEED your HELP! It's a big bunch of fun, but it's also and a big bunch of work, so please click here if you are available to help. We are especially in need of help with set up and clean up, and we can always use more chili. Questions? Reach out to Pastor Diane.
YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!
Join us for a Baptism Service at Picnic Rock
Council Tree, we will be having another outdoor baptism service at Picnic Rock on October 12th at 3pm. Please contact Bert if you are interested in discussing if baptism might be the next step for you.
Fall Christian Formation Classes
Join us on Sundays this fall to grow in our relationship with Christ and with each other. More information here.
Kids Hope Mentor Need
Kids Hope has an urgent need for a mentor for a 4th grade girl at Werner. We don’t currently have many details about her, but we are looking for someone who can step in to fill this need. If you have considered mentoring in the past, or even have mentored in the past, please search your heart, and God’s, to see if He might be calling you. Contact Karen Lachelt or Kathryn Brush for more information, and thanks to everyone for considering it!
SAVE THE DATE
Faceplant Retreat for Middle Schoolers - October 24-26. Details to come.
PH Check / Summit / Nourish Fund Feedback Meeting
As promised, the Council will hold an informational meeting for anybody who is interested to hear feedback from our recent PH Check survey and Summit on October 12th, after the service.
Our Church Directory
Keeping our church directory up-to-date helps the directory to be a good tool for us to connect names with faces. This helps build community as we continue to grow. If you have yet to be added to our directory, please contact Stacy at stacy@counciltreecovenant.com. If you have a login but need help updating your photos, please contact Paula Beaty at paulabeaty1@comcast.net for help. Thanks for helping to create a great tool for our community!
Men’s Fellowship
We are beginning a series on Practicing the Way (of Jesus). The book is Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer. Please look at this introductory video. It will take about 10 weeks. This is your invitation to join us for a while and together be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did.
We meet for breakfast at 6:30 AM Tuesdays until 8:00 AM. If you don’t prefer breakfast, you are welcome to come at 7:00 for juice and coffee.
Questions: Peter Way 970-219-1301.
September Financial Update From Council
Here is a summary of the financials for the first six months of our fiscal year.
Below is a table showing the Council Tree cash flow for April through September 2025. The Income for September came well below our expectations. Giving was just 70% of the budget. Fortunately, the expenses continue running below budget, keeping us from needing to pull any further from savings. Fiscal year to date we have used $46,000 of the savings account provided by the Nourish Fund to cover our shortfall in tithes and offerings.
The budget follows giving trends which historically increase in the Fall season. Our forecast for October is to have income of $67,000, requiring a 20% increase month over month. Prayerfully consider your participation in meeting our body’s financial needs.
As always if you have questions please reach out –
Sarah
sarahk@stackfam.com
970.214.5209
Stories From the Garden
Gardening is good for you. There’s a lady who’s been coming out regularly to help in the garden. She basically just adopted our garden as her healing place. The first day I met her she scolded me for bad gardening practices, and demanded I write her up a volunteer schedule, complete with a chore list, and the church’s address so dial-a-ride will know where to drop her off. Why do you want to work in our garden, I asked her. She told me she lost her husband a few years ago, and has had a brain injury, making her forgetful. She’s in a few different physical therapies. But, as she likes to remind me, all her therapies are inside. They are helpful, but in order to heal, she needs to be outside, needs to be in nature, working with the earth. So she found our garden, and comes faithfully two days a week to work and heal. She says you cannot heal without nature, and I tend to agree with her. The garden sabbath is over, and we are now preparing for some big changes next year.
There’s still lots of work to be done. So if you need a bit of healing in your life, if you want to spend an hour in nature learning about plants, and our relationships to them, listening to birds, collecting seeds, watching clouds go by, predicting the weather, making friends with rabbits and squirrels, trying to identify our many birds of prey, talking with other volunteers, or sitting by yourself, then look no further than your own church garden. Contact Rico, or come on out to the garden.
--Rico Lighthouse, Council Tree Gardener
Save the Date
Mark your calendars for these upcoming Council Tree events:
October 5-12 - The Context of the Old Testament, Sundays @9am
October 5 - Barn Dance @4-6:30pm
October 12 - PHCheck / Summit / Nourish Fund feedback with Council, Sunday after the service
October 12 - Baptisms at Picnic Rock @3pm
October 19-November 23 - An Epidemic of Mental Illness: Causes and Recommendations, Sundays @9am
October 24-26 - Faceplant Retreat for Middle Schoolers
Volunteer Opportunities
From the beginning of creation, God established holy rhythms of life and service for those who follow in God’s path. We each have personal seasons of rest and restoration, and of new life and service. Council Tree encourages spiritual wondering alongside the Holy Spirit to discern what spiritual season you may be in.
If you find yourself in a place where you have margin to serve, we could definitely use your gifts! If you feel God is calling you to explore serving, we would encourage you to start an exploratory conversation with a team lead to find out more.
Click here to find out some of the many serving opportunities that are currently available.
Give Online
If you would like to give online click here.
Weekly Email
Here at Council Tree we believe that living in community is an important part of life.
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